← Locked On Celtics - Daily Podcast On The Boston Celtics
Locked On Celtics - Daily Podcast On The Boston Celtics
BIG STEP: Jayson Tatum Returns to Practice | Return to Boston Celtics IMMINENT?
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Boston Celtics announced that Jayson Tatum practice with the Maine Celtics on Monday, marking a pivotal step in his recovery. When will Tatum return at full strength, and how will his minutes be managed as the team eyes a championship run next season? Nikola Vucevic joins the rotation—should he start, or is his pairing with Derrick White the key to unlocking Boston’s offense? The chemistry between Payton Pritchard and Neemias Queta is scrutinized as John Karalis from Celtics On SI breaks down lineups, bench roles, and the impact of new acquisitions. Roster changes bring Celtics just under the luxury tax, giving them maximum flexibility heading into 2025. Insights cover trade exceptions, salary cap strategies, and player contract outlooks—including Vucevic’s future in Boston. Key questions: Will Celtics management prioritize winning over saving money, and how will roster construction support Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s championship ambitions? The Locked On Celtics Podcast offers sharp...
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Foreign podcast Network your team every day. This is Nick Gangstead of the Lockdown Mavericks podcast. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. I love that I can earn up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase with my Apple Card, which can be automatically sent to my High Yield Savings account through Apple Card right in the Wallet app with my iPhone. I can use Apple Card with Apple Pay basically everywhere I go. You can. You can apply for Apple Card too, right in the Wallet app on your iPhone. Subject to credit approval, Savings is available to Apple Card owners subject to eligibility Savings and Apple Card by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch Member FDIC terms and more@applecard.com Ready to Save on new tech? It's time for Dell Tech Day's annual sales event celebrating our customers with fantastic deals and benefits. Perks include Dell Rewards, free shipping, premium Support and more. PCs like the Dell 14 with Intel Core Ultra processors will help you do more faster. And with the premium suite of monitors and accessories, you can upgrade your whole setup with amazing savings. Visit Dell.com deals to be a Team USA skier, it takes dedication, determination and lots of hard work. But it doesn't take all that to score unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases. Just use the active Cash Visa credit card from Wells Fargo and tap to pay with that natural born talent and unwavering focus. Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases with the Active Cash Visa credit card from Wells Fargo. Terms apply. Visit Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash Visa, proud sponsor of the Olympics and Paralympic Games. Now on the Lockdown Celtics Podcast, Jason Tatum is practicing again. This is huge. Lock on Celtics pot. Home of the winners, baby. Hey, welcome back to the Lockdown Celtics Podcast right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Where is your team every day? Your team is the Boston Celtics and I. I talk about them Monday through Friday, plus bonus podcasts when they play in the weekend, which they don't do for a little bit because of the All Star break coming up. But when they get back to it, I will be there for you. Podcast is free and available Everywhere. It's on YouTube. Watch the show there. Get into the comment section. Share your thoughts with me. If you're new to the show, I am John Corrales. I'm a beat writer covering the Celtics for Sports Illustrated's Celtics on SI. Go check out my written work at Celtics on SI. I've been covering the team for about 20 years doing this podcast for 10 years and I've written a couple of books about the team as well. Later on I will get to three distinct different topics today later on. I have a question about the Celtics tax situation. It's something I think that we need to clear up. There's a lot going on out there about what the Celtics plan to do. I'll clear all that up in the third segment. Second segment will be about Nikola Vucevic. Should he start, what should the line of the rotation be? We'll do that in the second segment, but I got to start with Jason Tatum back on the practice floor. Shocking. Celtics announced in the middle of the day on Monday that, oh, by the way, Jason Tatum has been assigned to the main Celtics. They will come to the practice facility and we're going to assign Amari Williams and Ugo Gonzalez and they're all going to practice together. Now. No, wait a second. That. That sounds familiar. Where have I heard that exact scenario brought up before getting out there? It's going to be like Amari Williams and, you know, Ron Harper Jr. And Max Shilga. You know, you might. You might even see. You might even see Jason Tatum has been assigned to the main Red Claw. Main. Main Celtics for today's practice. And what that means is the main Celtics on whatever, you know, off day they have are all going to come down to Boston and he'll scrimmage with them at the facility. That's happened before. Oh, that was me saying that yesterday in the podcast after the game that very few people listen to because of the Super Bowl. Sorry, Patriots, I was really rooting for you. That was side note. That was ugly. Patriots haters. Hey, you got what you wanted. Patriots fans. Sorry. Hey, but listen, I'd rather. I'd rather lose like that a million times out of a million. You just got your butts kicked by a better team, and that happens. All right? So anyway, you probably didn't hear that because not a lot of people listen to or watch that podcast, but I did lay out this exact scenario yesterday because Sham Sharania had said that before the. The Knicks game that Tatum was scrimmaging with coaches. And now the next step would be to scrimmage. Live scrimmage, or at least controlled. I think what this was because the way the Celtics phrased it was he was assigned to the main Celtics to. To participate in portions of the practice. So I don't think this was unscripted five on five. I don't think this was full on scrimmage. I think this was a little bit more controlled, but with the defense, and if you've listened recently, Tyrese Halliburton was on the Mind the game podcast with LeBron and I think Steve Nash is doing it now. And he was talking to LeBron and he was, he was mentioning how he was going through similar type scrimmages, right, with all the low minute guys and Benedict Matheran, who's since been traded, but he was, he was playing Matheran and you know, Mather hit him with a hesitation move and pulled up for three and they said, no, go at him. And he said, no, his leg. And the Halliburton was like, no, I want to see where I am. And then he told the story about, well, Matheran just dusted him, hesitated. Justin was at the rim and he goes, I was still at the three point line. And that showed me how long you had to, how far you still had to go. I think Tatum is in that mode that, that part of his rehab where, see, let's see what happens. Let's see if, you know, Max Shulga can dust you at the three point line and get to the rim while you're just still standing there flat footed. The controlled elements of this rehab, I think have been mostly accomplished. And now it's, can the brain send the messages to the feet and can the feet execute the messages that the brain is sending? And can you do that against people that maybe it's a little bit more unpredictable even though it's scripted? Hey, you're gonna go at them, you're gonna try to pull a move. Jason, you're gonna defend like it's not random scrimmaging. I don't think that next step is straight five on five scrimmaging, practicing with the team and just getting out there and, and getting the full on 5 on 5. Let's go out there, let's get at it. The one element that Sean Sharania did mention in his report was Jason Tatum wants to come back as Jason Tatum. Not a percentage of Jason Tatum. He wants to come back to as close to 100% of Jason Tatum. And that, that's going to be difficult because you're just never going to know how close you are. But it's that feeling of, okay, I feel, I feel like I'm 100%. Then he'll come out there and he'll play, which I would anticipate, whenever he does play, it's going to be under a strict, strict minutes restriction. So at first he might, he might even come off the bench. It might be a seven minute stint, a five minute, three five minute stints to seven minute stints, something like that. And Then you just kind of go from there. It's. It's really going to be. Throw them out there, come back. How did you feel? I don't know if you do more imaging, but you want to go take a look at it and see are there any hot spots showing up or whatever. You might want to do a little bit of imaging. They have the facilities to do it, so why not go take a look, see what's going on, be super, super careful and then give them a day or two off and then get. Let's get back at it. So it's not going to be just, I think, full immersion, but this first step with the main Celtics is, Is a big deal. This is a. He is getting close. This is my original, and I didn't want to go too far back. One victory lap is already enough for me today. I'll go back and find where I said March. I expected him to come back in March, even though I thought maybe the this Sunday, Super Bowl Sunday game against the Knicks would have been a great kind of just, you know, you hurt yourself against the Knicks, come back against the Knicks would have made a lot of sense. But he's, he's getting close, and my original prediction was early March, and it seems like he might be on, on track for that. I feel like this is, this is perfect timing. This is exactly what we want him to do, what I've wanted him to do. Work your way back, get your mental right, get your physical right. Come back, shake off the rust, figure it out. Figure out. How do you. Now, how do you work with Vucevic? How do you. How do you work with, you know, the, the new and improved Namishkeda? How do you. How do you work with some of these other guys? Jordan Walsh on the floor with a little bit more opportunity. You know, Gonzalez, who you've never played with before, all of that, you just. This is important stuff. This is. We know that the Celtics are good now, but we know that their goal is going to be the championship next season. I, I just, I don't want to. I don't want to downplay what the Celtics are doing right now, but everything this season is. Is gravy to me. And let's. You don't have to mess with what. Let's see what kind of run they can make. Let's see what they can do. Maybe optimistic view. They're there. They're the second seed or third seed. However you want to look at it, they have a chance. So. All right, let's go. Let's see what you got. But if they, anything they accomplish this year up to and including a championship is actually bonus because the whole plan was get Tatum right for next year, get the lineups right for next year, get the money right for next year, which is going to be our second and third segments of this podcast anyway, and all of that. So I feel like this is perfect timing. So Tatum goes through the practice. Celtics are practicing on Tuesday, so we'll get an update. How did he look? How did he feel? I don't know if we're going to talk to Jayson Tatum, but we'll get at least, at least a little bit of a sense. I'll get to talk to some people around the team that maybe can give me a little bit of a glimpse into his how it went. So just great news. I think everything is actually progressing the way it should. This is Tatum on track to come back this year. All that stuff, all that self doubt stuff, understandable. I think that that creeps in. That's a natural part of it all. I, I think he's very clearly progressing and will return this year. So we'll see. But great news, great news there. All right, up next, Vucevich is here, Vuchevic is here, Nikola Vuchovic is here. What should he do? Should he start? He's coming off the bench now. Is that how it should go? I did a very detailed breakdown on Sports Illustrated. I'm going to, we'll talk about that when I come back. Today's show is brought to you by zocdoc. Finding a doctor you actually like can feel like finding a diamond in the rough. Sure, you want somebody who's in network nearby who has an availability, but you also want a doctor who listens and makes you feel comfortable and explains things clearly. Impossible. Haha. Not with ZocDoc. 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That's ZocDoc.com Locked on MBA ZocDoc.com LockedOnNBA thanks to ZocDoc for sponsoring this podcast. Today's show is also brought to you by Wayfair. It's a new year. It's a perfect time to reset your routine, refresh your space, and you're spending more time inside. It's cold. You don't want to go anywhere. You might as well love where you're sitting, how your place looks. That's why you need to go to Wayfair One stop to get your house, your home, back on track. You want bedding, you want mattresses, you want storage solutions. It's all right there at Wayfair. So if you need a full home refresh or you're just updating a living room, organizing some space, a office, maybe upgrading your work from home setup, Wayfair's huge selection makes it easy to find exactly what you're looking for. It works for your style. It works for your budget. I know because my wife and I have spent a few bucks over at Wayfair. But I know we've saved a lot by going to Wayfair. It's very easy. 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Drop the link in the show notes. Okay. Since we're using the code Vujovic on Celtics on Si, I did a very detailed breakdown of the Celtics lineup situation and trying to get to the heart of who should start now that the, the, the trade between Chicago and Boston has happened. We've seen a couple of Vuch off the bench games. Is that how it should go? So my, the way I, I approached it was you, you kind of match point guard and center. And it's almost like pitcher and catcher in baseball if you're trying to figure out what center kind of accentuates the, the point guard and his strengths. So we start with. The Celtics really have two ball handlers, Derrick White and Peyton Pritchard. So right away we know that Derek White is starting. Pritchard has gone to the bench because they're the only two ball handlers the Celtics have. They have a ton of wings and they have now three bigs, but the two ball handlers primarily are White and Pritchard. So you know White is going to start. You know Pritchard is going to come off the bench. So who matches up best? Whoever matches the best with Derrick White should start. Whoever matches up best with Peyton Pritchard should come off the bench with Peyton Pritchard. And it's not a knock on either guy. This is absolutely not a knock that I just, I'm not going to get into. This guy should start because he's better or not. That's not what, what this is. This is what makes the most sense for this team. And because Pritchard is coming off the bench and, and Derrick White is starting, who fits best with Derrick White? What is Derrick White as a player? He's a very Reed based, cerebral. He's a smart player. Not that Pritchard isn't, but Pritchard is a smart player too. But Derek is a just phenomenal. Thinks the game faster than most people. Processes the game faster than most people. Just insane processing speed, ability to make reads like crazy. And I want to give him options, more options. The more options for him, the better. And also I want to give him space. Pritchard is the better driver. Pritchard drives 12 times a game. Derek drives a little less than eight times per game. Pritchard is the better ball handler. He can just get low, keep that dribble alive. You could probably have that Seahawks defense tackle him and somehow underneath the pile, he'd be still dribbling the basketball. That's Pritchard's kind of superpower. He's got that incredible handle and he can just get into the paint. He loves to operate 10, you know, 5 to 10ft from the rim in that paint area. And who accentuates that and who accentuates Derrick White and, and how he drives, what he's looking for when he drives and what he's looking to do on the floor. So I've settled on, I think Vucevich, Vuchevic, I'm gonna get that. Like you've spent so many times saying it one way. I think Vuch should pair with Derrick White and I think Keda should pair with Peyton Pritchard. Especially because Keda and Pritchard have a season long chemistry. I don't want to put, I don't want to put an unfamiliar guy with Pritchard in that, in that setting because Pritchard needs to know where his outlet is. He's going to get in there, he's going to get into the teeth of the defense. Keda has done an incredibly good job of learning the pick and roll and executing the pick and roll, executing short roll, operating in a dunker spot, navigating, relocating along the baseline. All of the things that I didn't think he could do last year, he's done all of them. Super impressed with how he's come about, how he's progressed. So I think he's, he's perfect for a guy like Pritchard because they, they almost operate in like tandem. Pritchard goes this way and, and, and Kada knows where to go and how to move and it just works perfectly. I want to keep that together. Plus I think that defensive presence on the second unit is going to be important. You're playing with some lesser players. You need a little bit of a shot blocker there. And if, you know you could always sub kata in early, you could always finish with Keda. Just because I'm saying he starts on the bench doesn't mean he doesn't finish games. You can use him in the final three minutes if you need a rim protector. If you're trying to protect the lead. Absolutely. Finish with Keda, that is totally fine. But I want to pair him with Pritchard as much as possible. Vuch with, with Derrick White. Vuch in his introductory press conference said, this is a Reed based offense, which is kind of my strength. He likes to read things. Pick and pop, pick and roll. He's a good passer too. Short roll. It just gives Derek that extra dimension in that pick and pop ability. Allows for cleaner drives for Derrick White because now that big, you can just take a little bit of traffic out of the lane. And that's I think Keda, because he doesn't space when he's on the floor. With Derrick White crowds the lane a little too much. And with Vuch, I think that will just take a player just one big body away from the paint. It will just open things up for Derek to be a little bit more of a finisher, to rely a little less on the floater, which is a great shot for him. He's great with the floater. But get to the rim maybe a little bit more and then collapse the defense and then maybe make some, some extra passes over there. Another, another spacer and also another passer with that offense. So while people are worried about Derek and what Derek and Vuch are doing, somebody else can be cutting back door. Maybe you get Jalen a couple of easy ones that way as well. So I just think a guy that can clear out and it gives Jalen space to drive as well. A guy who can clear out of the lane for two guys who could use that extra space is better. And Pritchard kind of operates well in tight spots. So I think Keita going to, to pair with Pritchard is the move. So starting it's Derek, Vuch, Jalen. I want shooting, so I want Sam. I want rebounding. Baylor Charman has been an incredible rebounder. He had 13 rebounds against the Knicks. He's, he's been just boarding like crazy. So I like that. And you can easily, whenever Tatum does come back, slide him into. Maybe Baylor goes to the bench and slide Tatum into that and that now becomes Derek, Jalen, Jason, Sam and Vuch. Love it. I think that's a great starting lineup. And then off, off the bench you have Pritchard, Keita and then Ugo or Jordan or Baylor. Whenever Tatum comes back, I just like the way that flows. That's, that's a great eight man rotation. Now you notice I haven't mentioned Luca Garza here. I don't think the double big works and this sucks for Luca Garza because I like what he has done. I think there are situational times where you could go double big, right? I don't have any problems yanking Shireman out of the starting lineup and starting Garza if you need to. So you could situationally go double big. You could, if, you know, depending on foul trouble, go to go to Garza. You could say, hey, we're missing a lot of shots. We're shooting 17 again. We need a rebounder, an offensive rebounder. Out there, and you just send Vuch to the bench and say, that's. That's how it's going to be, man. He's like, I like Vuchevic. He's. He's a good player, but he's. He's still, you know, nothing's made him, like, untouchable out there. So if you need to. If he's not offensive rebounding, you need an offensive rebounder. Sit him down, put Garza in. But I just think Garza is going to be a little bit more situational. And as I've said before, I think ultimately when the things do settle, I do think Garza might be a little bit of an odd man out. I think Garza is probably going to be a little bit more of an NBA journeyman. But I want to be very clear, I have a ton of respect for Garza. I think the work that he's put in has been great. Just think he's just a very specific type of player, and there will be teams out there that need that very specific type of player, and he can go and he can make a few million dollars in the NBA. Like, I think he's an NBA player and he's proven that. So I don't know how this shakes out. I really don't know. And when we come back, I'll talk about a little bit of the financial stuff, but right now, I just think the combinations without Garza make the most sense for the Celtics, and Garza can be used situationally. So I think those are the lineups. You're starting. Derek Vuch, Jalen Sam, and right now Baylor Tatum, obviously, when he comes back at some point. And then with Peyton and Keda off the bench, I think that's just a great combination. I love the chemistry between those two. And if you want to finish with Keda, fine. You want to finish double big, fine. You can do that. Any combination of those bigs, that's also fine. So that's where I've settled on the Vuch starting situation. We'll see how that goes up next. I answer a viewer question, a listener question, because I think there's a little bit of a misconception about what the Celtics might be trying to do, what they're able to do after all the tax stuff. We'll talk about that when I come back. Today's show is brought to you by TurboTax. Tax season doesn't have to take over your life. I know it can, but it doesn't have to because TurboTax is making it easier than ever. You just hand things off and move on with your day. It's beautiful. With TurboTax full service you can have your taxes done for you by a trusted local expert, start to finish without the stress and without the guesswork. Instead of spending hours trying to figure out which forms to fill out, you can meet with a local TurboTax expert in person or connect online. They handle everything w two self employed forms. They give you every deduction possible. 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Thanks for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. Make thank you for making this the number one Celtics podcast in the world. On the number one sports podcast network in the world. It's thanks to you the everyday or joining me Monday through Friday. Thanks to everybody who's come up to me and said hi at these games. It's been great to meet people. Always, always love hearing people call out my name. It's it's just an absolute thrill if you want to go check out if you're trying to get past the super bowl hangover, you want to see what happened. Locked on Patriots if you're celebrating with the Seahawks. Locked on Seahawks has you covered lockdown. NFL has full breakdowns over there so go check those podcasts out. So the Celtics trade deadline got under the tax. There's a whole big thing. There's reactions that I don't even care to get into about what the Celtics are trying to do and it did get a mailbag question in. I just want to focus on this one and it comes from Jesse T. Who said my concern with the Celtics getting under the tag luxury tax is not this year but next year. It takes two years to get out of the repeater tax. I hope the Celtics aren't going to waste next year with JT and JB just to get out of the repeater tax. If you want to get your Questions in john carouse.com mailbag I will be doing a full mailbag podcast one day this week and I'll do another one next week. So John corralis.com mailbag I'm also going to be answering them on the Celtics on SI page. So check out. Check that out. I will let you know when I drop one so you can go check that out so you know when to read it. Because I just want to get to there's so many questions coming in. I want to that extra outlet is going to help me out a lot. So the question about ducking the tax next year. I don't think the Celtics went into the trade deadline saying oh my God, we got to get under the tax. I know they did. And when I say they got under the tax, they just barely got under the tax. They're $800,000 or so under the tax and they still have to fill roster spots. So they are threading the finest needle. It's just the teensiest, tiniest bit that they're trying to thread. They're gonna do it and that's great. But it's that is helpful in sure Bill Chisholm gets to save a little bit of money. Okay fine. No one cares about rich people saving money when you're talking about your sports team. I get it. But more importantly, you have a payment. Non tax teams get payments from the taxpayers which you could turn around and go spend next year. Most importantly, the Celtics are under the first apron and far enough under the first apron where they can do some deals here. I want to put up this graphic here. This comes from Keith Smith. This is very complicated. I'm gonna leave it up there for a second but just because I just want to say that when the Celtics are under the first apron, no trade restrictions, no buyout restrictions and when we say no trade restrictions. This is just for the YouTube folks but I'm reading it for the people listening over the first apron. You cannot do things like use more than your full the the tax mid level exception. You can't. You, you can't acquire player via sign and trade. You can't sign a buyout player who made more than the non taxpayer mid level. You have to. You can't use more than 100 salary matching in a trade. You can't use a TPE created in the prior season. That's all what happens over the first apron. Well, guess what? The Celtics have a TPE created in the prior season. $27.7 million. What they have is the ability to go send out players that can match more than 1, 100%. You can take in more than 100% money in a trade. So they've had, up until Brad Stevens specifically said this, they've had to take less back in a trade because of where they were over the aprons. So yeah, the tax is, is they got under the tax and that's fine. I would be shocked, shocked if the Celtics specifically made moves to get under the tax next year. Now this is going to be a little bit of nuance because they could make moves and, and still be under the tax. They could try to make moves that don't, don't come through and end up under the tax. And if that's how it is, that's how it is. What I don't want is for the Celtics to end up under the tax next year and people will be like, see, they did it. They're going to make moves to win next year. I cannot say this any more clearly. The Boston Celtics are going to make moves this summer in an effort to win next season. They want a championship. They get Jason Tatum back. They get Jalen Brown at his absolute peak. They're going to try to accentuate that. How does that look? I don't know yet. Does Nikola Vuchovic stick around? I don't know yet. He's not going to be making. What's he making this year? 20, 21 million. That's it. Like that, that Vuch number is going to go 21.5 million. He's an unrestricted free agent. You can go out on the open market. Who's paying Vuch at 35? What are you, what's his, his value in the open market? No one is giving him more than the taxpayer. Mid level. Right. No one is giving him more than that. Is anybody going to spend. I just put up the graphic here. Using more than the non tax. I'm sorry, using more than the tax. Mid level exception hard caps you at the first apron. You cannot be over the, the first apron and you and do that. So any team that might say, hey, we're, we're one big away, a stretch big away. Let's, let's throw 6 million, 7 million at, at Vuch now you're, now you're putting yourself in a tough spot. He's not the guy to do that for. So I think the max that he's going to go find on the open market is the non tax mid level, which is going to be like $5 million. That, that's my. So I wouldn't expect the Celtics to pay him any more than that. That I think is the absolute max that he's going to get now. He's going to be 36 next year. So is that the guy you want to rely on? Maybe, maybe not. We'll see. He could be a useful piece, but he becomes like Al Horford territory. They have $27.7 million in a trade exception that they can use. They have, if they needed it. They have Derrick White, they have Peyton Pritchard, they have Sam Houser. They have guys that they can turn around and move that make money if the right player is available. I'm not saying that they will actively try to do that, but if that's how it goes, you can now take back more money. And if you, if you use your 27.7 million dollar trade exception to bring in a player and a more expensive player comes up that is available somehow and packaging a couple of these other guys up is the smart way to go. The Celtics will be looking to make these moves. I'm not saying I want to be clear. They are not actively going to be shopping any of these guys, but they are going to be open to whatever moves are there. They are not going to be cheap. They are not going to say, oh, we can't spend up until, you know, we can't spend into the tax because we want to save some money. No, I think if anything the Celtics will be hard capped at the first apron. I think that's going to be where they end up because they're going to start using some of these tools that are available. The first apron in next season will be $210 million. Next season they will have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 guys under contract guaranteed. So they got to fill a few roster spots. They'll be at $111 million or so with the guys that they have guaranteed. You pick up some team options. You pick up Baylor, you pick up Keda, you pick up Walsh. That fills out. That's a nice way to fill out the end of the roster. You have plenty of space. You have plenty of room. Between 115, $120 million to 210 million, you have a lot of room to get to that, that line so you can start taking back more money. You can take, you can use your full mid level, you can find a guy on the free agent market and give him your foot full mid level. Now you got full mid level, $15 million you can give somebody, you got a 27.7 million that you can give in a, in a trade exception. You have tradable players on the team. You can be aggressive in putting a championship level team together and not worry about the tax. You worry about the tax when Tatum and Brown are done. So they've saved enough money now. They've saved enough money. They, they are, they are players this summer. So to answer that question, Jesse, do not worry. Do not worry. And if I'm somehow wrong about this, I will be the first, first person leading the charge, calling Bill Chisum cheap and all of that stuff. I do not think that's what this is. I do not think what this, that's what this trade deadline was. I think it was more about getting under the first apron, gaining that flexibility. And hey, by the. Just ended up like, hey, we have an opportunity to get under the tax here. Let's just do it. You traded away Tillman, you traded away Minotaur and Chris Boucher. They weren't playing. What's the difference? Trade them away. You upgrade Amari Williams, he's a guy that's been playing. Give him a look. You're going to maybe upgrade Ron Harper or maybe you bring, bring somebody else in. You've got you using those spots with guys who are playing, so that makes more sense. I'm not looking at this as a cheap, tax dodging, ducking team. They got themselves into a spot where they can start spending money. Now it's not even ducking the repeater tax. I don't think you have to wait one more year and get under the tax. If they do, then that just supercharges it for sure moving forward. But I think they can start spending in the summer of 2026 and build whatever they think a championship team is going to be for next season. This season. All gravy. Go nuts. Hopefully this breaks right for the Celtics and they make a deep run. Next season is the team they're building specifically to win a championship. All right, practice is on Tuesday. We'll see if anything comes out of practice. If for some reason it's quiet, then I'll do my mailbag episode or I'll bring Tom Wester home in. We'll, we'll talk about, I don't know, we'll figure something out. Probably talk about more Tatum. But whatever the show is tomorrow will be determined at practice. So I will be at practice. I'll be asking the questions. I'll be digging to see what we can find out. So I hope you subscribe. I hope you watch the show on YouTube. Subscribe there as well. Love to see you in the comment section and then I would love to see you share the podcast. Tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast here in the Lockdown Podcast Network. It's your team every day. The day begins at the Chase Sapphire Lounge by the club at Boston Logan Airport. You get the clam chowder in San Diego, it's Tostadas New York Espresso Martini. It's 10:00am why not? It's the quiet before your next flight, the shower that resets your day, the menu that lets you know where you are. This is access to over 1300 airport lounges and every Sapphire Lounge by the club. And one card that gets you in Chase Sapphire Reserve now even more rewarding. Learn more@chase.com Sapphire Reserve cards issued by JPMorgan Chase bank and a member FDIC subject to credit approval. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. 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